New instruments for human rights protection in globalization

Abstract

The Ruggie principles have given new impulse to the process of developing and modernizing International Law through the influence of human rights. However, this process has been developed as "soft law" measures included in the corporate social responsibility activities of multinational companies, which academic opinion deems has lessened the capacity of human rights for transforming international law into more effective and truly binding instruments to avoid abuses against human dignity. This issue has prompted a debate concerning the role of multinationals as subjects of international law, and the advisability of returning to more traditional and conservative approaches to governance of globalization and to effective protection of human rights from risky business activities. However, thanks to Common Law traditions, this model may be transformed into binding rules, using the legal tools of private Law. This reveals the utility of such soft Law regulations in creating cultures of respect useful when rule of law is weak to rule relations between states, companies and people, that arise from the actions of private individuals rather than the activity of public law-making institutions.